After the Jets’ 30-27 overtime victory over the Patriots on Sunday was aided by the application of a new rule that penalizes defensive players for pushing teammates into the line of scrimmage on field goal attempts, confusion over the exact rule arose.

It began when New England coach Bill Belichick said the call — a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty on rookie defensive tackle Chris Jones that set up Nick Folk’s 42-yard field goal after he missed a 56-yard try — was incorrect because the pushing didn’t come from the second level, referring to anyone not on the line of scrimmage.

Conspiracy theorists were further fueled by a story posted on the league’s official Web site, NFL.com, in September that incorrectly stated that rule applies only to pushing from the second level. In a video that accompanied the story, vice president of officiating Dean Blandino refers to the “second level” in explaining the new rule. Not to mention, the article on NFL.com was changed Sunday night, according to Tom Curran of CSN New England.

However, Rule 9, Section 1, Article 3, subsection (b)(2) in the NFL rule book states the defensive team on a kick from scrimmage “cannot push teammates on the line of scrimmage into the offensive formation.” In the initial proposal, the rule change was that players not on the line scrimmage cannot push players on the line of scrimmage, a source said, but after the Competition Committee discussed it further, the rule was amended to include all players, not just those on the second level.

A source said the NFL.com video, made at the time of the initial proposals, was never sent to teams, and all of the videos illustrating the new rules went to the league’s teams were accurate.